Winding machine

ABSTRACT

A multihead winding machine for the winding of material delivered from a controlled speed source of supply in which each winding head comprises a rotary guide, mounted to be driven around a nonrotary package support with a relative axial traversing motion produced by traverse mechanism common to at least a group of winding heads. The machine also includes mechanism for progressively reducing the length of traverse stroke during winding and a control for increasing the rate of reduction of stroke during the period of winding when completed packages are being doffed and fresh packages started. The traverse mechanism preferably comprises a lever arm which is rocked about its fulcrum under the control of a cam, and the mechanism for reducing the length of traverse stroke of the builder rail then serves to reduce the distance from the fulcrum of the lever arm of the point of connection to a link for transmitting the traversing movement. The connection of the link to the lever arm may be made by way of a connection block in the form of a nut mounted on a lead screw extending along the length of the arm so as to form part of the arm, the screw being turned step by step to produce the adjustment of the length of traverse stroke.

United States Patent 11 1 1111 3,856,223

Mackie Dec. 24, 1974 WINDING MACHINE Primary Examiner-Stanley N.Gilreath [75] Inventor: John K. P. Mackie, Belfast, Attorney Agent orFirm Bris.eb0iS & Kruger Northern Ireland [73] Assignee: James Mackie &Sons Limited, [57] ABSTBACT Belfast, Northern Ireland A multihead wrndmgmachine for the w1nd1ng of material delivered from a controlled speedsource of supl Filedi 29, 1972 ply in which each winding head comprisesa rotary [21] AppL NO; 230,235 guide, mounted to be driven around anonrotary package support with a relative axial traversing motionproduced by traverse mechanism common to at least a Foreign AppllcatlonP Data group of winding heads. The machine also includes Mar. 10, 1971Great Britain 6475/71 mechanism for progressively reducing the length oftraverse stroke during winding and a control for in [52] US. Cl 242/263,57/71, 57/99 creasing the rate of reduction of stroke during the pe-[51] Int. Cl B65h 54/36 riod of winding when completed packages arebeing [58] Field of Search 242/263, 26.2, 26.1, 26.45; doffed and freshpackages started. The traverse mech- 57/71, 99, 156 anism preferablycomprises a lever arm which is rocked about its fulcrum under thecontrol of a cam, [56] References Cited and the mechanism for reducingthe length of traverse UNITED STATES PATENTS stroke of the builder railthen serves to reduce the dis- 941 649 11/1909 Rhoades 242/2645 from thefulcrum ofthe lever arm of the point of 1984642 12 1934Hendricks0n:.:...... :I...'242 26.3 connection to a link fortransmitting the traversing 2,982,487 5 1961 Newton 242/261 movement TheConnection of the the lever 3,011,731 12/1961 Long, Jr. et a]. 242/263arm y be made y Way Of a Connection block in the 3,343,755 9/1967Waddington 242/263 form of a nut mounted on a lead screw extendingFOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS along the length of the arm so as toform part of the arm, the screw being turned step by step to produce theadjustment of the length of traverse stroke.

'7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures FATENTED DEC 2 4 I974 SHEETlIEQ PATENTEDDEC 2 41974 swagg WINDING MACHINE This invention relates to the windingof synthetic plastic tape to form packages and is particularly concernedwith the winding of a relatively large number of tapes as described, forexample, in British Pat. No. 1,209,921.

As described in this earlier specification a multi-head winding machineis used to form individual packages from a number of tapes from anextruder or other controlled speed source of supply which cannot bestopped to allow the packages to be doffed. In a winding head of thiskind, each winding head comprises a rotary winding guide mounted to bedriven around a nonrotary support for the package with a relative axialtraversing movement. This movement has one component in the form of arelative reciprocating motion, of stroke considerably less than thelength of package, common to all the winding heads, and a second in theform of a progressive uni-directional motion produced by mechanism whichis independently adjustable at each winding head. A tape can be led toeach winding head in turn to start forming a package, and, although thereciprocating motion is common to all the packages, they can be atdifferent stages of progressive formation. Each package may then becompleted in the sequence at which they were started and each completepackage doffed and-the next started before the next package in sequenceis ready for doffing.

However, with this type of compound motion, the length of thereciprocating stroke extends only over the tapered nose portion of thepackage, so that the tape is laid over this portion. It is thereforenecessary to make the taper a gradual one, since otherwise, whenunwinding, the tape is inclined to pull off in gulps, i.e. a number ofsuccessive coils, rather than be unwound coil by coil. This can be acause of frequent stoppages. If a nose'of sufficient length and taper isformed to prevent this occurring, for a given length of package thisappreciably restricts the diameter and weight of the package. In mostcases, of course, it is desirable to get the effective maximum amount ofmaterial on a given length of package.

It is possible to makev the nose shorter and yet prevent the tapepulling off in gulps if it is wound with a traverse extending over theeffective length of the package rather than just the nose. This can beachieved by using a different form of traverse mechanism in which, atthe start, the traverse extends for the full length of the package, andit is then progressively reduced as the package is wound to form thetaper at each end. in one example of package wound with this form oftraverse motion for a particular type of material, the ends of thepackage can have a taper of approximately 30 as compared withapproximately lO as obtained with the method previously described, thuspermitting the building of a larger diameter package for a given length,and hence a heavier package.

With such a form of traversing motion, however, it is not practicable totreat the separate packages individually since the reciprocating motioncannot be split into two separate components in the manner describedabove. At the completion of a package the length of traverse may havebeen reduced, depending on the length of package being wound, to almosthalf the maximum value, for example. As a package is doffed a new one isstarted and when all the completed packages While this creates nodifficulties during the winding op-' eration it does, however, lead todifficulties during unwinding. As already described the taper at the endof the package is of the order of 30 so that the smaller package formedinitially presents a relatively sharp corner to the subsequent turns ofthe full length package wound on top. Consequently when the package isbeing unwound there is a risk of plucking and stoppages caused by theturns being unwound fouling this corner.

The angle of taper at the end of the package is controlled by the rateof reduction of the length of traverse and the present invention isbased on the principle of increasing this rate of reduction during theperiod in which the packages are being doffed so that the portion ofeach package wound during this period (i.ei, the much shorter coreportion already described) has a much smaller angle of taper, e.g., 8 Inthis way the sharp corner referred to above is eliminated and theresultant gradual taper presents a smooth surface over which theunwinding tape can slip quite easily without plucking.

Apparatus in accordance with the invention operat-' ing in this mannercomprising a multi-head winding machine of the kind referred to aboveand intended for the winding of material delivered from a controlledspeed source of supply has traverse mechanism common to at least a groupof winding heads and includes mechanism for progressively reducing thelength of traverse stroke during winding and a control for increasingthe rate of reduction of stroke during the period of winding whencompleted packages are being doffed and fresh packages started. Thismechanism leads to the elimination of the sharp corner on the coreportion of each package wound during the doffing period and thusfacilitates unwinding in the manner already described. Although theproblem has been described primarily in terms of the winding of tape, awinding machine in accordance with the invention may also be used forthe winding of yarn and other similar material.

As just mentioned the traverse mechanism is common to at least a groupof winding heads and preferably a single mechanism serves for all thewinding heads of the machine, the package supports being mounted on acommon length or lengths of builder rail to which the traversing motionis applied by the traverse mechanism. The traverse mechanism mayconveniently comprise a lever arm which is rocked about its fulcrumunder the control of a cam and which is connected to the builder rail orrails by way of a link including one or more lengths of chain or thelike by means of which the reciprocating movement is transmitted and themechanism for reducing the length of traverse stroke of the builder railor rails serves to reduce the distance from the fulcrum of the lever armof the point of connection to the link. This mechanism may convenientlyoperate by. a standard amount for each stroke of the arm during thegreater part of the winding process, the

amounts of adjustment increasing in length or frequency during thedoffing period.

In order to provide smooth adjustment of the connection point betweenthe link and the lever arm, this connection may be made by way of aconnection block in the form of a nut mounted on a lead screw extendingalong the length of the arm so as to form part of the arm, the screwbeing turned step by step to produce the adjustment. For this purposethe screw may carry an indexing wheel capable of being turned throughsuccessive angular steps by means of a pawl operated by a reciprocatingmechanism. The reciprocating mechanism may comprise a pneumaticcylinder, the stroke of which may be adjustable, andvwhich is controlledeither by a valve operated by rocking movement of the lever arm or by asecond valve operated more rapidly by a member driven by gearing in thedrive to the cam, the respective valve being selected by a change-overswitch. Thus, during the greater part of the winding process thepneumatic cylinder may operate the pawl once or twice for every strokeof the lever arm while during the doffing period the second valve mayproduce more rapid operation.

A construction in accordance with the invention will now be described inmore detail by way of example, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view of traverse mechanism showing its parts in a positiontaken up just before the beginning of the doffing period;

FIG. 2 is an end view of a builder rail including a package support anda completed package;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are views corresponding to FIGS. 1 and 2 but showing theparts after resetting at the end of the doffing period; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the traverse mechanism with the parts inthe same position as in FIG. 3 and also showing part of the builder railand a newly started package.

The multi-head winding machine shown in the drawings has a commonbuilder rail 1 which extends for the length of the machine and iscontrolled by a single traverse mechanism indicated generally as 2.Although, as illustrated, the machine is single-sided, the traversemechanism 2 can equally well control a double-sided machine havingsimilar builder rails on both sides. The builder rail 1 carries a numberof non-rotary package supports 3, one of which is best seen in FIG. 4and one only of which is shown in FIG. 5 carrying the initial stages ofa package. Each non-rotary support has a cooperating flyer 4, the twotogether constituting an individual winding head and the relativereciprocating motion between the two is produced by traversing movementof the builder rail 1. As best seen from FIG. 2, the material to bewound, which will be assumed to be tape, is shown as 5 and passes via alet-off roller 6, over the shoulder of the flyer at 7 and via a guideroller 8 and a winding-on guide 9'to the surface of a package shown as10. The invention is primarily concerned with the traversing movement ofthe builder rail 1 which will now be described in more detail.

The builder rail 1 is mounted to reciprocate on vertical guides and isfitted with rollers 16 bearing against these guides. Although only asingle guide 15 is shown in the drawings, the guides are, in fact,spaced at intervals along the length of the machine and the traversingmovement of the rail 1 is controlled by a separate chain 17 passing overa roller 18 at each vertical guide 15.

The chain 17 is attached to a bar 20 which extends along the length ofthe machine and has a chain 17 attached to it at intervals. The bar 20in its turn is caused to reciprocate by means of a chain 24 forming partof a winch mechanism and wound up by a winch wheel 26. The wheel 26 ismounted on a shaft 28, the rotary movement of which is produced by asecond winch wheel 30 also secured to the shaft and controlled by achain 31. The chain'31 passes around a further winch wheel 34 mounted ona shaft 35 which carries a further wheel 36 controlled by a chain 38.The chain 38 is connected in its turn to a link member 40 which isindirectly connected to a traverse arm 42 having a fulcrum 43 and causedto rock by a heart cam 45. The rocking movements of the arm 42 are thustransmitted to the builder rail 1 by way of a link which includes thesuccessive lengths of chain 17, 24, 31, and 38 and also the link member40.

The stroke of the traversing movement of the builder rail 1 is thuscontrolled by the distance from the fulcrum 43 of the point ofconnection of the link member 40 to the arm 42. In order to provide anadjustable connection, the arm 42 includes members 51 and 52 which arespanned by a lead screw 53. This lead screw carries a nut member 54which has transverse projections 55 capable of sliding in a slot 56 in amember 57 which is connected to the link member 40 at 58. Thecombination of the parts 54, 55 and 57 together constitute a connectionblock by means of which the effective connection point of the linkmember 40 to the arm 42 can be adjusted in respect of its distance fromthe fulcrum 43. The adjustment is effected by an indexing wheel 62 whichis fixed to the end of the lead screw 53 and is turned step by step bymeans of a pawl 64 operated by a pneumatic cylinder 65. As theconnection block constituted by the parts 54, 55 and 57 moves along thelead screw 53, the chain 38 together with the link member 40 turns aboutthe edge of the winch wheel 36 as centre and rollers 76 on the part 57run along an arcuate support 77 centred about the centre of the turningarc so that the tension applied to the chain 38 does not apply anyloading to the lead screw 53, but applies the loading directly to thearm 42 by way of the rollers 76 and the supporting surface 77.

The pneumatic cylinder 65 is of adjustable stroke so that the amount bywhich the indexing wheel 62 is indexed for each stroke of the cylinder65 can be adjusted as required. The pneumatic supply to the cylinder 65passes by way of a change-over valve 70, in one position of which thesupply then passes via valves 71 and 72 to the cylinder 65. The valves71 and 72 have projecting triggers shown as 73 and 74 respectively whichare operated by a small projection 75 at the left hand end of the leverarm 42. In other words, as the arm 42 reaches the anti-clockwise limitof its travel, the valve 72 is operated and when it reaches theclockwise limit of its travel the valve 71 is operated, the wheel 62being indexed by an amount dependent on the adjustment of the pneumaticcylinder 65 for each operation of these valves.

As mentioned above, FIGS. 3 and 5 show the traversing mechanismimmediately after it has been reset at the beginning of a set ofpackages and when the traverse stroke is required to be a maximum. Forthis purpose the connection point to the arm 42 is towards the left handend of the arm so that the distance from'the fulcrum 43 is a maximum. Asthe arm 42 reciprocates under the control of the heart cam 45, the wheel62 is progressively indexed under the control of the valves 71 and 72and the connection block comprising the parts 54, 55 and 57 isprogressively moved to the right along the lead screw 53, thusprogressively shortening the traverse stroke. When the packages beingwound reach a size ready for doffing, a light 80A is caused to flash bymeans of a switch 80 which is engaged by the part 57 as shown in FIG. 1.This indicates to the opera tor that doffing should start and thechange-over valve 70 is then operated to divert the control from the twovalves 71 and 72 to a third valve 82 which is operated by a stud 83projecting from a wheel 84 driven by a chain 85 from the drive to theheart cam 45. The heart cam itself is driven from a motor driving pinionS8 and gearing 89, 90, 91, 92, 93 and 94. It is the wheel 92 in thistrain of gearing which drives the chain 85. The rate of revolution ofthe wheel 92 is chosen so that the rate of indexing of the wheel 62 andhence the rate of reduction of the traverse stroke is considerablyincreased, e.g. by a factor of 4. As already described, this reduces thetaper of the portion of each package which is being built at this stage.For the packages which have not yet been doffed, no advantage isobtained, but for the packages which have been doffed and new packagesrestarted,this achieves the important advantage already described. Itwill be understood that at this point the traverse stroke is close toits minimum value so that the initial core portion of each new packagewill be very short and once the traverse mechanism has been reset to itsstarting value, the subsequent layers of turns will be wound over thetop of this short core portion as shown by the package illustrated inFIG. 5. It will be seen that although this package is of full length ithas a localised central swelling which is constituted by the initialcore portion.

As soon as the operator has changed over the rate of reduction of thetraverse stroke by operation of the change-over valve 70, he proceeds todoff the finished packages in a conventional manner and then restartthem with all speed.

The spindle S which runs up the center of the stationary package isdriven near its base by a belt (not shown). The top of the spindle isslotted to accommodate a correspondingly shaped portion of the flyerduring normal running. When the package is full, a brake is applied tothe spindle, thus causing the drive belt to slip. Suitable brakes forthis purpose are disclosed in British Pats. No. 1,023,935, No.1,281,806, and No. 1,187,829. The flyer is then simply lifted off thespindle to permit the doffing of the full package and its replacement byan empty package support. The brake is then disengaged from the spindleand normal drive resumed.

Alternatively, the flyer may be mounted on a spindle which is driventhrough a friction clutch capable of slipping, as described in US. Pat.No. 3,559,917. In this case the flyer can easily be stopped by hand,thus causing the clutch to slip while the package is doffed. Meanwhile,the traverse stroke continues to decrease and the member 57 nextoperates a further switch 95 which operates a further flashing light 95Ato warn the operator that the doffing of the packages should soon becompleted since their diameter has reached a size which will soon foulthe flyers of the winding heads.

As soon as the last package has been doffed, the pneumatic control isswitched back to the two valves 71 and 72 by operation of thechange-over valve 70, thus resetting the indexing of the wheel 62 to itsoriginal slower rate. At the same time the operator turns the lead screw53 by hand to bring the nut 54 back to its original position, i.e., toproduce the full traverse stroke, as a result of which the short coreportions which have been wound on the package supports are covered by alayer of turns extending for the full traverse length as alreadydescribed. It will be understood that each short core portion at thestart of each new package is wound when the indexing action is under thecontrol of the valve 82, that is to say at a high rate of reduction ofthe traverse stroke so as to give a small angle of taper which causes nodifficulty during unwinding. This renders it possible to wind the largerpackages associated with the type of traversing motion described butwithout their associated disadvantages.

I claim:

1. In a multihead winding machine for the winding of material deliveredfrom a controlled speed source of supply, having a plurality of windingheads, each said winding head comprising a rotary guide, a non-rotarypackage support and means for driving said rotary guide around saidsupport; traverse mechanism common to a plurality of winding heads toproduce a relative axial traversing motion between each said rotaryguide and said respective package support, said traverse mechanismincluding a lever arm mounted to rock about a fulcrum, means forprogressively reducing the stroke of said traversing motion at either oftwo predetermined rates of reduction, and control means manuallyoperable while said driving means is in operation to change the rate ofreduction produced by said stroke reducing means from one of saidpredetermined rates to the other, whereby the higher of saidpredetermined rates may be applied during the period of winding whencompleted packages are being doffed and fresh packages started, saidcontrol means comprising a pressure-actuated cylinder connected toactuate said stroke-reducing means and to be actuated through apneumatic circuit having two branches, a source of fluid pressure, achange-over device whereby said branches may be alternatively connectedbetween said cylinder and said source, one of said branches includingfirst valve means operated by rocking movement of said lever arm, andthe other of said branches including second valve means, and means foroperating said second valve means more rapidly than said first valvemeans.

2. A winding machine as claimed in claim 1 in which said traversingmechanism comprises a length .of builder rail common to said packagesupports and through which said traversing motion is applied to saidpackage supports.

3. A winding machine according to claim 2, in which said traversemechanism also comprises, cam means for rocking said lever arm aboutsaid fulcrum, and a link including one or more lengths of flexibleconnector, connecting a point on said lever arm to said builder rail,said means for reducing the length of said traverse stroke of saidbuilder rail serving to reduce the distance between said fulcrum of saidlever arm and the point of connection to said link.

4. A winding machine according to claim 3 said stroke reducing meansincluding a lead screw extending along the length of said arm so as toform part of said arm, a connection block in the form of a nut mountedon said lead screw, said connection block serving to connect said linkto said arm, an indexing wheel carried by said lead screw, a pawl forturning said indexing wheel through successive angular steps, and saidcylinder connected to said pawl for operating said pawl.

5. A winding machine according to claim 4 including first and secondwarning devices and first and second switches respectively controllingsaid devices, said switches being mounted alongside said lead screwwhereby said connection block operates said first switch and hence saidfirst warning device at a point in its travel corresponding to that atwhich doffing of the packages should start, and said connection blockoperates said second switch and hence said second warning device at afurther point in its travel when doffing should be completed.

6. In a method for the simultaneous winding of a plurality of packagesof elongate material drawn from a controlled speed source of supply, bywinding successive layers of said material on a corresponding pluralityof stationary supports, starting with an initial layer having apredetermined length and decreasing the length of each successive layeron each support to form ends to each said package having a predeterminedtaper, doffing said packages successively when complete, and immediatelystarting the winding of a fresh package on each support when the packagethereon has been doffed, the improvement which comprises the steps ofsimultaneously increasing the rate of decrease of the length of eachsuccessive layer for all the packages, when the first package is doffed,so as to reduce the angle of taper formed at the ends of the freshpackages while doffing is taking place, increasing the length of thelayer being wound to said predetermined length when all of said packageshave been doffed, and then decreasing the rate of decrease in the lengthof successive layers on each package so as to resume the formation ofends having said predetermined taper.

7. Method as claimed in claim 6 in which said elongate material is asynthetic plastic tape.

1. In a multihead winding machine for the winding of material deliveredfrom a controlled speed source of supply, having a plurality of windingheads, each said winding head comprising a rotary guide, a non-rotarypackage support and means for driving said rotary guide around saidsupport; traverse mechanism common to a plurality of winding heads toproduce a relative axial traversing motion between each said rotaryguide and said respective package support, said traverse mechanismincluding a lever arm mounted to rock about a fulcrum, means forprogressively reducing the stroke of said traversing motion at either oftwo predetermined rates of reduction, and control means manuallyoperable while said driving means is in operation to change the rate ofreduction produced by said stroke reducing means from one of saidpredetermined rates to the other, whereby the higher of saidpredetermined rates may be applied during the period of winding whencompleted packages are being doffed and fresh packages started, saidcontrol means comprising a pressureactuated cylinder connected toactuate said stroke-reducing means and to be actuated through apneumatic circuit having two branches, a source of fluid pressure, achange-over device whereby said branches may be alternatively connectedbetween said cylinder and said source, one of said branches includingfirst valve means operated by rocking movement of said lever arm, andthe other of said branches including second valve means, and means foroperating said second valve means more rapidly than said first valvemeans.
 2. A winding machine as claimed in claim 1 in which saidtraversing mechanism comprises a length of builder rail common to saidpackage supports and through which said traversing motion is applied tosaid package supports.
 3. A winding machine according to claim 2, inwhich said traverse mechanism also comprises, cam means for rocking saidlever arm about said fulcrum, and a link including one or more lengthsof flexible connector, connecting a point on said lever arm to saidbuilder rail, said means for reducing the length of said traverse strokeof said builder rail serving to reduce the distance between said fulcrumof said lever arm and the point of connection to said link.
 4. A windingmachine according to claim 3 said stroke reducing means including a leadscrew extending along the length of said arm so as to form part of saidarm, a connection block in the form of a nut mounted on said lead screw,said connection block serving to connect said link to said arm, anindexing wheel carried by said lead screw, a pawl for turning saidindexing wheel through successive angular steps, and said cylinderconnected to said pawl for operating said pawl.
 5. A winding machineaccording to claim 4 including first and second warning devices andfirst and second switches respectively controlling said devices, saidswitches being mounted alongside said lead screw whereby said connectionblock operates said first switch and hence said first warning device ata point in its travel corresponding to that at which doffing of thepackages should start, and said connection block operates said secondswitch and hence said second warning device at a further point in itstravel when doffing should be completed.
 6. In a method for thesimultaneous winding of a plurality of packages of elongate materialdrawn from a controlled speed source of supply, by winding successivelayers of said material on a corresponding plurality of stationarysupports, starting with an initial layer having a predetermined lengthand decreasing the length of each successive layer on each support toform ends to each said package having a preDetermined taper, doffingsaid packages successively when complete, and immediately starting thewinding of a fresh package on each support when the package thereon hasbeen doffed, the improvement which comprises the steps of simultaneouslyincreasing the rate of decrease of the length of each successive layerfor all the packages, when the first package is doffed, so as to reducethe angle of taper formed at the ends of the fresh packages whiledoffing is taking place, increasing the length of the layer being woundto said predetermined length when all of said packages have been doffed,and then decreasing the rate of decrease in the length of successivelayers on each package so as to resume the formation of ends having saidpredetermined taper.
 7. Method as claimed in claim 6 in which saidelongate material is a synthetic plastic tape.